By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Let’s not concede the NASCAR Cup Series championship to Kyle Larson just yet.
That said, all the following assertions are true:
Larson is a generational talent with the ability to drive anything with four wheels, regardless of body style, degree of downforce or horsepower-to-weight ratio.
After he was knocked out of Friday night’s High Limit Racing event at Lakeside Speedway in a gnarly-looking wreck, Larson put his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the pole at nearby Kansas Speedway on Saturday afternoon.
In Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at the 1.5-mile track, Larson led 221 of 267 laps and won his third Cup race of the season, tying Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell for the series lead in victories.
In the process, Larson swept the stages for the 14th time in his career. His eight stage wins this season constitute a record for the first 12 races. The 221 laps led at Kansas are the most by a driver in a single race at the track.
During the Kansas race, Larson surpassed 10,000 career laps led. Now at 10,073, his total in that category trails only those of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin among full-time active drivers.
Larson will be in the spotlight even more than usual this month as he attempts the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double for the second time.
All the above being true, Larson’s performance in Sunday’s race at Kansas nevertheless revealed a potential weakness, one that Hamlin noted on Monday’s edition of his podcast.
“I think the stats are showing a more dominant race than it actually was,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin is right, and the evidence revealed itself after Larson won the second stage. During pit stops at the break, Chase Elliott took the lead off pit road. After the subsequent restart, it was Elliott who drove away, as Larson lost a tight battle for second place to Brad Keselowski.
In dirty air, Larson’s car appeared almost ordinary. The same had been true when Larson lost the lead a week earlier at Texas Motor Speedway after leading 90 laps. Falling back in the running order, Larson struggled to advance and finished fourth.
What saved Larson at Kansas was a caution on Lap 195, when Keselowski blew a tire and slammed into the Turn 1 wall while chasing Elliott for the lead. Elliott lost 11 positions with a slow pit stop under yellow and was no longer a factor.
Because of that miscue, Larson was back out front, controlling the race.
“When he lost the lead (at Kansas), he became pedestrian, just like he was at Texas,” Hamlin said. “I caution this. I think he’s less dominant than what he’s been in years past.
“I think he’s fast, but I think he can be had, in the sense of he’s doing a really good job of qualifying well, executing, not making mistakes and not putting himself in the middle of the pack. When he gets in the middle of the pack, I haven’t seen the speed that I’ve seen them have before.”
The speed issue aside, Larson’s performance is a credit to his entire team. Consistently fast pit stops, well-planned strategy and exemplary execution have kept him out front. In the last four Cup races, Larson has led 725 of a possible 1,226 laps.
Larson’s ability to put the past behind him and move on to the next race in an unbelievably busy schedule is perhaps his greatest asset as a driver.
“I do think it’s because I race a lot, I’m guessing,” Larson said. “I would say that that’s a big part of me being able to move on quickly from things, whether it’s a good race or a bad race or a wreck or good result, bad result, whatever.”
His temperament is another major factor. Larson appears unflappable, even in exigent circumstances.
“He just doesn’t carry stuff over,” said Cliff Daniels, Larson’s Cup crew chief. “He had a heck of a spill the other night in the High Limit race and walks right into the NASCAR race ready to go. He doesn’t carry one race to the next.
“Obviously, momentum can be a real thing, which is always a good thing, for but him, he’s racing all the time, so I think he’s just ready to go.”
But, as Hamlin cautions, he’s not invincible—no matter what the statistics might suggest.
